Special Collections, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Va.

Accession number

Ms1961-002

Title

Claudius Lee Papers
1887-1954

Physical Characteristics

2 containers; 0.3 cu. ft.

Language

English

Abstract

Correspondence, photographs, and miscellaneous materials relating to the personal life and university and military service
of Claudius Lee, a professor in the Department of Electrical
Engineering at Virginia Polytechnic Institute.

Preferred Citation

Acquisition Information

The Claudius Lee Papers were donated to the Special Collections in 1961. Additional materials were donated in 1963 and 1976.

Processing Information

The processing, arrangement and description of the Claudius Lee Papers commenced in December 2004 and was completed in January
2005. Preliminary processing had apparently been performed in the early 1970s.

Claudius Lee was born on May 30, 1872 in Culpeper Court House, Virginia. He worked at his father's mill and also served as
an apprentice to a gunsmith in Danville. He studied at Lafayette College (Pennsylvania)
before being brought to Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College (now Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University)
to establish the college's physics laboratory while furthering his own education.
Graduating with a degree in electrical engineering in 1896, Lee is credited with installing Blacksburg's first telephone switchboard
and bringing an electric lighting system to the campus and town. He devised
controls to regulate all the college bells and was the university's timekeeper from December 1893 to 1956.

Lee served as superintendent of the campus power plant from 1899 to 1907, and as local manager of the Virginia and Tennessee
Telephone Company from 1900 to 1909. He became a professor in 1914. From 1917 to
1919, Lee served in the U. S. Army as a captain of ordnance. Following World War I, he returned to Blacksburg and headed the
electrical engineering department from 1919 to 1936. In all, Lee served the college in
various capacities for 69 years. The subjects which he taught included telephony, telegraphy, direct and alternating current.

Among the many campus, community and professional organizations in which Lee was involved are the American Institute of Electrical
Engineers, the YMCA, Phi Kappa Phi, National Society of Professional Engineers,
American Society of Engineering Education, Virginia Academy of Science, Virginia Education Association, Eta Kappa Nu and Tau
Beta Pi. He was a trustee of the Blacksburg Methodist Church, in which his wife was also
an active member.

Honoring Lee's long service to the university, a residence hall bearing his name was built in the late 1960s. In recent years,
however, Lee's campus reputation has been somewhat tarnished by information gleaned
from the 1896 Bugle. Within the annual's "organizations" section is a page devoted to the K. K. K., naming Lee as the "father of terror." Lee
is also listed as an "arch fiend" in the
Pittsylvania Club, whose logo includes a black man hanging from a tree. Twice in recent years, these pages have sparked controversy
and led to demands that Lee Hall be re-named. No evidence of campus Klan activity
has been found, however, and an investigation has concluded that the pages are distasteful jokes perpetrated by young men
in a nineteenth-century military school dominated by white males. There seems to be no
direct evidence in Lee's papers relating to the matter.

Lee married Sarah Theresa "Rissie" Otey (born October 14, 1874) on October 24, 1902. Claudius Lee died December 16, 1962.

This collection contains the papers of Claudius Lee, a U. S. Army veteran of World War I and a long-time professor of electrical
engineering at Virginia Polytechnic Institute. The collection contains such items
as personal and university-related correspondence, various materials relating to Lee's university and military service, fraternal
lodge souvenirs, photographs and miscellaneous items.

The collection includes a few pieces of personal correspondence between Lee, his family and friends, as well as correspondence
relating to Lee's work at Virginia Tech. Found here are pieces of correspondence
between various professors and administrators, including Samuel R. Pritchard, Joseph D. Eggleston, W. H. Rasche, T. B. Hutcheson,
Prof. Randolph, F. A. Heacock, Claudius Lee, Julian A. Burruss, and Prof. Staley.
Also relating to Virginia Tech is a folder of various materials containing such items as circulars, invitations, place cards,
reports on the campus power plant, and images of campus buildings.

A folder of military-related material chronicles Lee's own military service--particularly at a military ordnance training
camp--and includes reports and memoranda, as well as general newspaper clippings on
World War I.

Souvenirs arising from Lee's affiliation with local fraternal lodges are included, as is a folder of material relating to
his attending the General Electric Professor's Conference. A report--mailed to Lee in
1959--on the gristmill at Mount Vernon, Virginia, is included as well.

The collection contains a small set of photographs including various portraits of Lee; images of Virginia Tech-related individuals,
organizations and scenes; and military groups and scenes.

Completing the collection is a folder of miscellaneous materials, including a South Carolina matriculation ticket for Samuel
R. Pritchard (1887); Lee's grade report from the Danville Military Institute (1890);
several souvenir postcard booklets of Peoria, Illinois and military scenes; and a pair of phonograph records, made by former
students of Lee and presented to him on his 80th birthday.